


Diplomancy (Season 0)

by CharlesOberonn



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Fantasy, Gen, Mystery, Politics, Science Fiction, Supernatural Elements, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 16:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7112863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlesOberonn/pseuds/CharlesOberonn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of “self-certified Diplomancer” Charlotte Zheng, a human girl living a world of fantasy and paranormal creatures. She works as a negotiator, problem solver and dispute resolver and her specialty is anything regarding non-human creatures.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Diplomancy (Season 0)

It was a busy and cold day in the Registration Office. Dark clouds settled in spiral patterns in the sky, raining down on the world outside. It was a cold December morning. Everybody in the waiting room were huddled in their coats. Some wise people, were smart enough to bring their own blankets and insulating clothes to shield them from the chilling cold.

Unlike some wise people Charlotte cradled her knees up to her chest shivering, and tapped her foot nervously on the seat of her uncomfortable plastic chair. She liked the winter, and the cold. But she probably shouldn't have gone outside with only a pink tank top, black jeans and army boots. She liked the winter, but her sun-kissed brown skin and body physiology were clearly built for warmer climates.

She switched rapidly between looking anxiously at her watch and staring at the digital counter that moved in a crawling pace, waiting for her number to come up. Finally, after many minutes of freezing anticipation, her number came up. As she got off her chair, she nearly lost balance and fell down. All of her limbs were numb, and she shook them awkwardly to bring back the feeling. She stumbled along across the room to the desk and booth designated to her.

"Hello, Mrs. Longshaw." she greeted the clerk as she sat down. Mrs. Longshaw was an old friend; according to Charlotte, at least.  
"Hi, Charlotte." Mrs. Longshaw answered, her voice sounded exasperated, but she tried keeping a friendly demeanor.  
The veteran registration clerk wasn't a young woman. She'd seen a lot of things in life.

"You are not here with more files, are you?" the clerk asked, and Charlotte could hear the hidden frustration in her voice.  
"In fact, yes, I am." Charlotte answered, trying to remain chipper as well despite the cold. Mrs. Longshaw rolled her eyes.  
Charlotte -with trembling fingers- reached into her backpack. She moved aside several bobby pins and other equipment and pulled out her folder. She swiped through the laminated records of her previous missions until she got to the most recent one. She slid it across the smooth desk over to Mrs. Longshaw, who caught it with the skills of a professional file catcher.

She looked through it, and smiled. "Very impressive, Ms. Zheng, good job on another dispute solved. I'll send a copy to the Negotiators Guild." Mrs. Longshaw said.  
"Um… here's the thing…" Charlotte hesitated. "I don't actually have the money to renew my Negotiator License next month." she fiddled with her fingers.  
"You see, my recent mission…" she pointed at the file.  
"It's an inheritance dispute." the clerk looked through it again. "Like I said, you did a very good job, bringing the two sides to the negotiations table, you stopped a possible clan war."  
"Yeah… but the payment was supposed to be a small cut of the inheritance, but as it turns out… the person in question is a Rocknite, and their lifespan is several hundred years... so even when they're on their final lap, it's still gonna take decades…" Charlotte giggled nervously. Mrs. Longshaw sighed again.  
"So my payment may be a little bit delayed." Charlotte explained.  
"I'll notify the guild. Next!" Mrs. Longshaw said and prepared for the next person in line.  
"No, wait! Please hear me out!" Charlotte said.

"I may not have the money to pay for the license renewal, but if you change my designation to a magic user, I would get a government grant and I wouldn't have to pay-" Charlotte exclaimed but got cut off.  
"Charlotte…" Mrs. Longshaw paused, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, but you are not a magic user."  
"I just made peace between two clans of rock people that no other negotiator would even get close to, how is that not magic?!" Charlotte lost a bit of her temper. She got up and raised her arm in an upset gesture.  
"Listen…"  
"No, you listen. " It was Charlotte's turn to cut the clerk off. "They couldn't pay me right away, but I did get something out of the rock clans in return for my work."  
Charlotte sounded excited and impatient. "Come in, boys!" she called out behind her.  
  
"I have brought one member of each clan to testify on my behalf." Charlotte smiled as a lumbering figure walked up to the desk.  
He was only a meter tall and had the shape of a small elongated boulder, but with four nubby legs coming out of his bottom which he used to slowly move around. His skin was a solid brown granite and he hand no visible facial features or arms. A bit of sand kept falling off of his granite skin onto the floor and Mrs. Longshaw's desk. Mrs. Longshaw pouted and swiped the sand off with a little duster.

"Where is your other 'boy'?" she asked.  
A much louder rumbling noise could be heard outside. People all around the room, both the clerks and the people waiting for their turn looked at the eastern window. A gigantic creature with black obsidian skin crouched down besides the building, looking through the window at Mrs. Longshaw's desk with an enormous pupilless red eye. Instead of a pupil his eye had a dark red line broken into three segments that contracted as the giant focused his sight on the tiny humans inside.  
The old clerk lowered her glasses and looked in surprise and disbelief that such a creature got even close to the registration office building.

"Dunescar." she pointed at the short granite Rocknite. "Larry." she gestured to the lumbering stone man outside.  
"Tell her your story."  
"No, don't." Mrs. Longshaw stopped the shenanigan before it went any further.  
"Don't tell me your story, or Charlotte's story, or any story. It won't help." She yelled in frustration.  
"Listen, Charlotte. And actually listen." She rebuked her.  
"It doesn't matter how many files you bring me, how many witnesses you have or even if you show me a live demonstration." she rubbed her temples. "I can't give you a magic user license because what you're doing is not magic." she banged her frail hands against the table.  
"It's an incredible talent, and a great service to society. But bringing people together and stopping conflicts, as amazing as it is, isn't magic." she said.  
Charlotte's eyelids dropped down to half closed, her shoulders drooped.  
"It's not recognized by any government or academic institution, it's not even a theory in the mind and thesis of some college student somewhere. It's just not a thing." Mrs. Longshaw ranted.

" _Diplomancy doesn't exist._ " she finished off with strong harsh words.Those words cut deep into Charlotte.

A silence spread between the two. The Rocknites slowly retreated to give the two women room.  
"I'll send the copy of your file to the Negotiators Guild, and I'll even ask them to give you an extension on your license fee. But I can't make you a Certified Diplomancer."  
"It's okay." Charlotte got up and walked away, her body trembling with every step.  
Mrs. Longshaw sighed, this time out of exhaustion. She seen a lot of things in life, but she never seen anyone quite like Charlotte.

Charlotte walked outside the building, which was even colder than the inside, the rain fell down on her head.  
She called up her roommate.  
Back in Charlotte's apartment, her roommate and best friend Tammy picked up the phone.

"Hey, how did it go?" she asked.  
"Poorly." Charlotte answered.  
"You sound like you need coffee and a hug."  
"That would be lovely." Charlotte said and smiled softly.  
She said goodbye and shut the phone.

Charlotte looked up at the 15 meters tall Rocknite who was just walking back to his home in the quarries.  
"Hey, Larry! Can you give me a lift?" she shouted at him. He looked down at her, crouching close to the ground and opening the palm of his hand so she could climb onto it, using his other hand to shield her from the rain.  
"Thanks, buddy." She said and leaned back against his stable hands. "You rock." she joked.

All the way back home, she giggled at her own stupid pun, trying to cheer herself up.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everybody! Here's a little preview to the world of Diplomancy and the main character of the story, Charlotte!  
> This prologue takes place six months before the beginning of the first chapter.


End file.
